


Mother of Light

by Hytacorus



Series: Mother of Light [1]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Adoption, Baby Luz, Family Feels, Gen, Owlbert tries his best, Parental Eda, Rip Camila
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27939992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hytacorus/pseuds/Hytacorus
Summary: Owlbert accidentally brings back a baby during one of his ventures to the human realm. And unable to find the kids’ mother, Eda decides to keep the kid till the parent can be found.
Relationships: Eda Clawthorne & King, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Owlbert, King & Luz Noceda
Series: Mother of Light [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2046005
Comments: 17
Kudos: 137





	1. Accidental Acquisition

**Author's Note:**

> So I got into the Owl House about two weeks ago, and after binging it and going straight to the fanfiction for more content, I realized that I couldn't find a child fic like this. SO I took it upon myself to write this.
> 
> Very inconsistent updates.

Owlbert has been a faithful companion to Eda ever since she was a young witch. Throughout the years it’s been them, and then later King, against the isles. And during that time Eda has also been quite faithful and loving, and so Owlbert has no problems doing things for her every now and then. 

One of the things he does for her is to gather items from the human realm every week or two to support Eda’s ‘human relic’ business. He picks things up that humans seem to adore, or that hasn’t been seen in the boiling isles yet, like that flashing stick he nicked off a few human children last week.

He’s just finishing another gathering trip, having spent the last two hours collecting different things. He’s still swooping down every now and then to nick something Eda would probably find interesting. He specifies what Eda would find interesting because when he thinks things look interesting or that he should get, Eda never likes them. Specifically, things that humans always are seen using or carrying, like those rectangles they’re always on. 

He just has this last neighborhood to go through, before he gets to the woods where the portal is located. So maybe he’ll find something they’ll both like. Or something neither of them has seen before that he could take back to be studied for any worth. 

He lets out a low hoot as he swerves through the last human neighborhood, wondering if he should try to take the chance to swipe something from one of the homes. 

Owlbert wants to get Eda something real nice this time, something she won't throw out and discard as useless. She does love shiny objects and things that light up with nice colors and long use to covet in her nest. 

But usually, Owlbert takes things out of the trash, things people will not miss, or from little children who don't know any better and don't exactly care. But the nicer things that the humans seem to have their hearts set on are never found there or are simply broken, and never working. 

And so a human home it is. 

Owlbert spends another half hour looking for things to get for Eda, but unable to find anything like a shining stick he decides just to go home. He swoops over the treetops, keeping a keen eye out for anything that might be worth something. 

When he finally arrives at the park just before the forest, he decides to take a bit more time to see if there’s anything there. 

Owlbert swoops down and takes note of how empty the place is. Usually, there are couples and families sitting around at benches, or on the grass, or children on the playground. 

He notices there is only one human at the park today, carrying a strange... Basket? It’s very different from any basket he’s ever seen, but humans invent things very often, and he’s always learning about new items each time he comes to gather objects. 

The human woman walks to one of the park tables and places the strange basket on it, which is closed so Owlbert is unable to see inside. She’s handling the basket very carefully, which means that the basket is either very fragile or valuable enough that she doesn’t want to cause any damage. 

Owlbert goes closer to the human, watching as she sits down at the table with the weird basket on it. The woman has dark hair and very tanned skin, and is dressed weirdly like how most normal humans dress. She takes a bottle out of a bag slung over her shoulder and twists the cap off, and winces when it makes a loud hissing sound. 

Owlbert tilts his head at the sound, which he has noticed is what most human beverages make. 

She places a hand on the basket and hums cautiously. “Luz?” she questions as she stares at the basket. After a few moments of silence, she goes back to gazing at the scenery of the park around them. 

Owlbert doesn’t recognize the word, so maybe she speaks a language he doesn’t know. But whatever it is, maybe it’s what the basket is called. But it’s probably just a word in her language.

Owlbert is about to fly off before the woman suddenly stands up in a flurry, and after taking a long look at the basket and the surrounding area, she notices Owlbert. They lock eyes for a moment before the woman shakes her head and grabs her bag. She’s muttering words in a language he can’t understand, further convincing Owlbert that a Luz is just a word in her language. 

She then runs off back towards the street, through a short path.

When the woman is gone, Owlbert jumps down onto the table and stares intently at the weird basket. It’s clearly valuable with how much care the human handled it with. Owlbert is willing to bet it’s some human fragile food, as most humans carry their food in their baskets when coming to the park. 

He stares at the colorful thing, before deciding that Eda would probably like to find out what it is, or at least inspect the food that is most likely inside. Eda enjoyed the last human food Owlbert was able to bring her, some bright human lollipop. So maybe she’ll enjoy whatever food the basket carries. Human food is always interesting to try out.

Looking to make sure that the woman isn’t coming back anytime soon, Owlbert carefully but swiftly puts the basket in his bag of junk. He hopes it doesn’t fall apart during the ride and makes sure that it won't break or fall sideways.

Owlbert hoots, deciding that if this isn’t a nice enough item, then he’d just get Eda something nicer next time. 

Making sure everything is secure enough for take-off, Owlbert flies up into the air towards the forest, and to the portal home.

  
  


As soon as Owlbert sets down the bag of human goods, Eda pounces on the first thing she sees. She’s eagerly digging through the pile, hoping that Owlbert has finally brought her something good enough to swindle the fools with. Thing is that Owlbert, the sweet-hearted menace, hasn’t been bringing home anything interesting or worth selling. 

She’s hoping today that he’s honed those keen eyes and brought home something that can make her rich!

“Another weird block… another strange lookin cup… a toilet seat of all things? Owlbert why ain't you getting me anything good?” Eda questions, looking at the palisman that has settled on the couch arm.

Owlbert lets out a hoot, making Eda raise a brow. 

“Whaddaya mean you got somethin nice this time?”

Well despite Owlberts disappointing finds lately, Eda decides to trust him on this one, as he sounds pretty sure that he has found something worthy. 

Owlbert flies over to land on her shoulder, continuing to tell her that apparently the human he found it with called it a ‘luz’, which is either just the word for 'basket' in that human's language or what the thing is called.

Eda pays him no mind, half-listening to how he found it and what it’s called until he mentions that it could be food. 

“Food?” she cracks her knuckles, “Well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to inspect it.”

The thing that Owlbert is telling her to look at is… well… the only thing she can describe it as is a basket, but a very strange one at that. So Owlbert was right on the mark with that one. It’s very different from any of the other baskets she’s seen from the human world, and different from the many other baskets on the boiling isles. 

It’s a deep purple and blue, with white accents, and seemingly made mostly of fabric. It has a shield looking dome on top, but a clear flimsy handle to pull it up to reveal whatever is inside. It gives the basket a strange pod-like look. And over it, the basket handle is very thick, with a giraffe of all things hanging from it.

Sometimes Eda forgets that they banished those jerks to the human realm, and that surprisingly the humans haven’t been wiped out by them yet.  
  


“Well it certainly looks unique enough,” she says to owlbert, before turning back to the thing and rubbing her hands gleefully at the promise of something interesting. “Well let’s check it out then, maybe it’s something good!”

She picks it up, feeling how surprisingly heavy it is for a basket with probably only food in it. She carries it over to the kitchen, Owlbert following, and places it on the table. 

“Yknow,” she starts as she grabs the flimsy handle of the cover, ” It kinda looks like a baby carrier-”

She stops talking as soon as she lifts the thing up and is able to see what's inside. Owlbert also went quiet from his place on her shoulder as he too is able to see what’s inside the ‘weird basket’ as they assumed it was. 

A few seconds later, King can be heard shouting from the washroom, “HEY EDA CAN YOU COME AND SEE IF I CLEAN OUT ALL THAT DIRT-”

“Not right now king! WE GOT A PROBLEM!” She yells as she cuts him off, eyes wide as they could be. 

Then the thing in the basket opened its eyes, and startled by the loud yelling, and starts to wail. 

“DAMMIT OWLBERT!”

* * *

“ARGH! What am I going to do with a human baby!?” 

Eda is pacing back and forth in front of the couch, where the wailing baby still is, about to rip out her greying hair. The human baby hasn’t stopped crying ever since Eda had opened the human baby carrier. Eda didn’t know they started to design them differently! Usually, the ones she’s seen don’t have a hood that covers it completely or has such a... Weird design. 

But to be fair she hasn’t seen a human baby carrier in.. well... Since the beginning of her whole human artifact scam of a business. 

Owlbert is sitting in the corner of the couch, head down in shame.

Well good! He just kidnapped a baby!

And King, the little bugger, has retreated further into the house to hide from the baby.

“Ohhh no, we have to get this baby back to its parents before they completely freak,” She announces to Owlbert.

Owlbert lets out a slightly mournful hoot and nods, jumping onto her staff when she holds it out to him. 

First things first, they should probably get the kid and go to where Owlbert snatched the thing, to see if its parents are still there looking for their missing offspring. Eda shudders, feeling sorry for the parents who are probably freaking out over the loss of their child, and that she has to get close to the little twerp. 

She closes the hood of the carrier, and although it slightly muffles the sound, it doesn’t stop the kid’s cries from being annoying as heck. She grabs it by the handle and slides it onto the end of her staff.

“Alright, time to go take this kid back,” She says confidently walking to the portal. She quickly puts an illusion spell over herself, her staff, and her tiny passenger, so she doesn’t make another human faint and froth at the mouth like the last time she went to the human realm. 

“Now take me to where you found this thing!”

They don’t shoot through the portal like they usually would, Eda being conscious of the kid in the carrier. From what she’s read, human babies are extremely fragile. Must be why owlbert confused the thing for being a priceless artifact with how careful the mother had been with it. And to the mother, the brat probably is priceless.

She takes a moment to adjust to the human sun from the inside of her home. Everything is green and bright here, and the trees look.. Well, they don’t look a lot like the trees back at home you could say. She would say they looked plain. 

Owlbert leads her to the local park, which is devoid of humans at first glance. They glide down, taking a closer look at the area. There’s no one here. The park is just a large clearing, with benches by a dark and strange looking road, a simple slide, and a sandbox. 

“Hellooo?!” She calls out, wondering where the brat’s parents went off. Said brat is still crying in its carrier, so maybe that’ll alert the parents. 

After half an hour Eda gives up and moves closer to the town, hoping to find the woman that Owlbert thinks is the kid’s mother.

Another half-hour later after going through human neighborhoods, she still hasn’t spotted the mother. 

Eda groans, now just gliding through the setting sun, owlbert letting out a low hoot. 

That's when she notices that the kid has gone silent. She stares at the closed carrier, then leans down to open up the thing that’s probably for protection... Or to put the kid to sleep. Said kid is just sitting there peacefully, wide teary hazel eyes looking up at Eda.

“Hey, kid? Liking the ride?”

The baby looks away from Eda, and out over the human city which is covered in the warm glow of the setting sun. Eda chuckles when she sees the baby totally entranced with the view. 

“Probably the nicest view you’ve seen in your short, puny life huh brat?”

After another few minutes of gliding, Eda checks up on the twerp to make sure the thing hasn’t fallen out, though it looks like the baby is strapped to the carrier. Huh maybe witches out to start doing that for their wild brats.

Maybe then they’ll be more witches.


	2. Where On Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda is unable to find the mother, and so Luz spends her first night in the Owl House. 
> 
> Eda hopes to find the parents the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was not going to post the second chapter on the same day only 5/6 hours after the first, but my friend harrassed me.

A few hours have passed, and Eda is still unable to locate who Owlbert says is the kid's mother. A few times she’s asked Owlbert if he is sure that he remembers how the human looks, or if he’s going senile, or whatever the talisman equivalent is. And each time he snarks back that of course he remembers how the human looks like seeing as his memory has always been better than Eda’s has been. 

They searched high and low throughout the human city. In the nicer neighborhoods, in the slums, and even through the magnificent tall structures that make up the main part of the city. 

They even asked a few humans that matched the description of the human mother that Owlbert has told them. Some screamed, apparently so terrified of the baby, so obviously the kid wasn’t theirs. Some responded calmly... or well as calmly as they could. But each time they said that the brat wasn’t theirs. 

It’s now way past sunset, and it’s very doubtful that the parent is still out and about, and not worrying in their homes for their child. Eda feels kinda bad about it, but she turns around and starts to head back to the portal, deciding to try to find the parents tomorrow and to just go get some sleep. 

Of course, that meant they would have to take care of the little brat, who by now was starting to sniffle again. Eda already placed heating spells over herself and the kid, but apparently, it’s still getting unhappy.

Eda drags a hand over her face and groans as she flies over the woods away from the more populated areas. She isn’t sure how she’s going to survive the night, but she did try to take care of that bird back when she was younger and it survived the night. But she’s pretty sure a baby and a bird would both need different spans of attention. 

They swoop down to the shack, the baby letting out a giggle at the move. Seems like the little squirt is a bit of a daredevil. 

“Well we’ll try tomorrow for sure, but Owlbert you are still in big trouble young sir,” she says as she points her finger at her palisman. He comes to life as they land and ruffles his feathers, before he settles back onto her staff, just to show her how he feels about that. She snorts. 

Kicking open the door, Eda carries the carrier to the apple-blood table and sets it down. The portal closes behind her and compresses itself into its briefcase look, as soon as she has moved away from it. 

The infant is starting to sniffle even more, letting out tiny hiccups. Eda sighs and looks down at the kid, who stares right back up to her with wet eyes. 

That's when King comes scampering into the room, clearly having just gone through a battle with his stuffed toys. 

“Eda! You’re back!” He stops and stares at the baby before looking back at Eda. “Eda why is the puny human still here? It is freaking me out with its chubby face!” 

Eda hums and starts to unbuckle the kid out. 

“Well we couldn't find the kid's parents, so we’re gonna call it a night and try again tomorrow,” she explains, putting her hands under the twerp's armpits. She lifts the babe out and finally gets a good look at it.

It certainly is tiny, tiny than most witch babies she’s seen on the Boiling Isles. However, Eda can’t really remember the last time she’s been around a baby up close. It has brown hair (with a tint of purple?) and wide hazel eyes on its sickenly adorable face.

It’s also very round and squishy, which she is pretty sure is normal at this age. Which reminds her, she doesn’t know this brat's age or what it even is. She also isn’t sure how to find out what the kid's age is.

She also isn’t sure how to take care of a kid, shown by her just holding the thing up by its armpits. 

“Ugh, ok but it better not take attention away from me! And it better not be cuter. If I found out you think it’s cuter I will… I will do something horrible and terrifying,” King threatens, adorably fluffy up his fur. Eda snorts and moves to cradle the kid with one arm against her chest, and awkwardly pats King's head, almost tempted to say the brat is cuter just to hear King's adorable squeak. 

But the kid will probably be scared because for some reason infants get scared over the stupidest things. 

“Yeah, yeah, don't worry King no demon, witch or human is cuter than you.” 

King pumps out his arm and yells out a quick, “Yeah that’s right!”

The baby starts to quietly cry, which reminds Eda that she should probably try to figure out what she’s going to do about it. She groans and sits down on the couch, holding the baby in her lap.

“Hey it’s fine kid, ima get you back to your parents tomorrow morning, but it’s too late to do that now,” she explains, not really sure how to talk to babies, but deciding that just talking to it normally is alright. Said baby is clutching her dress with its chubby hands, staring up at her. 

King settles down beside her, catching the baby's attention. They stare at each other for a few long moments, before King starts to growl. Despite trying to intimidate the infant, this only serves as amusement for the twerp, as it starts to giggle at King’s efforts. 

Eda chuckles, smoothing down the brat's hair that at some point got all messed up. 

After a while of just making faces at the baby, which seemed to calm it down, Eda decides that it would probably be a good idea to try to find a place for the child to sleep. 

“Ok let's go get you someplace to bunker down here,” Eda says as she stands up, holding the child, whose name is probably Luz now that she thinks about it. Luz sucks on their thumb as it’s picked up and cradled against Eda’s chest, making a cute gurgle. Jeez, she’s starting to notice how adorable this kid is, which is horrible.

King gets up and stretches too and jumps off the couch while saying, “yeah ima go hit the hay Eda, I’ll see you in the morning!”

“G’night King!” Eda shouts at his retreating back. 

Eda is now alone with Owlbert with the baby in her arms and has no idea what she should do or where Luz should sleep. She supposes she should keep an eye on the brat, just in case anything happens. 

She’d feel horrible if she accidentally killed someone's kids. Not that she’d admit that.

And so Eda magics her staff and the carrier and all that's in it to follow her as she makes her way to the hallway, deciding just to keep the kid in her room. She walks up the stairs to her room, and when she enters it she quickly magics the room clean just in case. Who knows how fragile human babies are.

The thought is actually scary.

“Alright now, where to put you…” she murmurs, eyeing the room for a suitable place. Her eyes catch on a crate, big enough for the kid to fit into and still have a little extra space. She magics it up and places it beside her nest, and guides some blankets to settle in. 

“Alright that should do”

She places the baby in the create, it being tall enough that the thing will have a hard time crawling out of. She’s pretty sure that human babies aren’t as strong as witches… 

Luz looks up with those curious caramel eyes, still sucking on their thumb. Well, it looks like it can sit up, so it’s probably older than 7 months.

Eda grabs the thin blanket and toy she didn’t realize at first was in the carrier, but she thinks it’ll keep the thing calm. 

That’s also another thing she should check on, which is the baby’s gender. 

But she’ll just wait for the morning to do that. 

“Ok Luz, lay down and go to bed like a good human,” Eda requests as she makes the baby lay down. Thankfully it seems like the kid is also exhausted, as they shuffled around in the crate until they're comfortable, clutching that horrible giraffe. It’s actually kinda funny.

Eda stretches and pops out all the kinks in her back, and quickly changes into something she can sleep comfortably in. 

After getting ready for bed, she checks on the kid who is fast asleep. The baby is curled up around the giraffe, small body shaking in the cold and unfamiliar place. 

Eda, for some reason, grabs that thin blanket and drapes it over the baby, and puts a heating spell over the crate to keep the kid warm. Because for some reason she’s being nice. 

Eda doesn’t want to dwell on that. 

She sighs and falls into her nest, and after a few minutes of listening to Luz’s breathing, she finally falls asleep. 

* * *

  
  


The night was horrible. 

Eda had to wake up multiple times because for some reason Luz just didn’t want to go to sleep. Eda has no idea how to take care of a child, and so hoping just to resolve it in the morning, she kept putting sleeping spells on the brat. Of course, after making sure it wasn’t life-threatening. 

And so Eda is now cranky but having such a horrible night's rest. 

And Luz is still upset, and crying against Eda’s shoulder where it’s being held to. 

“Don't babies have to be changed?” King asks, settling on the kitchen counter where Eda is leaned against, downing a mug of apple juice. Her third one this morning. 

“Whaddaya mean?” Eda asks, finishing up her cup. 

“Weeelll,” King starts, then walks over to poke at the crying baby, “they can’t use the potty.”

Well darn, he’s got a good point. 

Eda grimaces and lays the baby on the counter and starts to unbutton it’s little onesie, to see a weird looking diaper. Humans are so weird. 

But it’s mechanics are the same, and so it’s easy to just rip the sticky things from the front part and pull it down. 

“Huh, I guess it’s a girl.”

Eda scrunches up her nose and removes the diaper, wondering what the hell she’s going to do with the soiled thing. She just balls it up and throws it out the window into the ocean. She never said she was a good samaritan.

After a while of pondering what she’s going to use as a diaper, she elects to use a cloth and pin it with pins… the nicest pins she has since the others like to _ bite. _

She buttons up the onesie worn by a now happy baby. 

“There we go!”

King sarcastically cheers, while reaching to poke the baby again. 

This time Luz tries to catch his fingers, and while watching them play this weird cat and mouse game, Eda thinks about what she’s going to do today. 

She needs to find the baby’s parents because there’s no doubt they’re freaking out right now. But she also needs to get food and diapers.

“Alright King, we’re going to go find Luz’s parents now, you hold down the fort,” Eda says to King, who looks up from what he was doing (and getting his finger caught).

“Already?” King lightly whines, lightly tearing his finger out of the human’s grip. 

“What did you get attached already?” Eda teases. 

“NO! I am not getting attached to a human!” and with that, King stomps off blushing to wherever he goes to hide. 

Eda chuckles and loads the baby into its carrier, blanket and giraffe included. Luz starts to suck on the giraffe, looking up at Eda with curious eyes. 

“K kid we’re going to go find your parents, and I won't have to deal with you again you hear?” she explains to the brat, who simply giggles at her.

The nerve. 

After getting everything ready and applying their invisibility spell, Eda opens up the portal and flies out on her staff as gently as she can through it. 

Luz seems to be enjoying the ride, laughing in the back of the broom where her carrier is hanging off of. 

* * *

It’s much like the evening before.

They go through the neighborhood and surrounding areas, back to the park, and back around the bustling human city. 

  
  


But even after questioning human after human, no one is claiming that baby to be theirs.

Well no there was that creepy guy, but Eda is pretty sure that wasn’t Luz’s father, looking completely different from the babe. 

Also, he just gave off such a weird feeling. 

And not the kind of weird feeling that’s mostly found in the boiling isles, but a weird sickly kind of weird that puts Eda way on edge, and makes her protective over the brat. And so she calls him a creep and flies off, making the man faint in shock at the casual display of magic.

That's the thing with the human world, they aren’t exposed to magic here, and so whenever they see an actual witch they freak out and go crazy. It gives some credit to the history lessons she got at Hexside, but she thinks it’s a bit extreme to think the humans actually tried to burn witches. 

But the world is a crazy and dark place, and honestly? These past few decades have taught her not to be surprised at the more horrible parts of the world, and not to be surprised when she learns something horrible. Maybe that’s why the human and the magical world are separate places. It still doesn’t make sense though… but Eda doesn’t really care to learn more about that, especially at the moment. 

But now Eda is plugging her ears as Luz screams her discontent. Discontent with what? Eda isn’t sure, and yes she stopped to check the baby’s makeshift diaper. But it’s not the diaper, seeing as it was as clean as it was when Eda put it on. And there is no visible sign that anything is hurting her. 

That's when Owlbert chimes in that the baby is probably hungry, not knowing the last time it had been fed. 

Eda slaps her forehead, chiding herself for forgetting such a basic baby care thing. 

“Where am I supposed to get that?! I don't even know what she eats!” Eda gripes, groaning as she hovers over the ground about a meter.

She survey’s her surroundings, which is just a normal human market. But instead of just tents and such, there are actual buildings. But what she’s looking for is somewhere she can get some baby things. But the human world is very foreign to her and she has no desire to try to find it. 

She could just walk in and ask, or walk up to someone and ask, but most humans just freak out when they see her, not used to seeing a witch not to mention a cool wicked witch like Eda. 

Maybe she should make herself seem more human, but honestly, that seems like too much an effort, plus she’d make herself instantly suspicious since she has no idea how humans normally act when they aren’t running away. 

“Well it seems like we can’t find your parents… we’ll try again later, but let's go get some good baby food in that baby stomach of yours squirt,” she says, talking to the crying baby.

And so with that, they make their way back to the portal, hoping to find some baby food that won't kill the baby, and will satisfy her needs.


	3. Only One Stomach Here!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda goes to the market to get some supplies for Luz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I have no idea what the exchange rate for snails is. So let's just say Snails are just like normal American dollars.

Eda surveys the marketplace, trying to figure out where they would sell baby food cheap that won’t kill Luz. This is going to be hard seeing that this is one of the shadier market places on the boiling isles, but it’s probably one of the only places that she can roam semi-freely without being recognized on sight. 

She doesn’t feel like being arrested for buying baby food, that would totally cramp her style. She has a reputation to upkeep after all. 

She has Luz on her hip and a bag in her right hand, the baby looking around very curious. She’s sucking on her thumb, her other hand clutched in Eda’s dress. It does not melt Eda’s heart, not at all. 

She can’t take Luz to where Eda normally gets her food, because she has no idea if Luz would be able to eat it. Babies at her age can eat solid food right? Eda thinks that they can, and she’s going to go with that, But she’ll still get a bunch of milk for the little brat. Well, enough for her to survive a few days, which is not how long Eda wants to be babysitting Luz. 

She really needs to find the parents.

She walks through the market, looking for things that might be edible. Humans need their food to be cooked and warm right? So anything that gets eaten alive is out, which is weird that humans can’t do that.

“Darn well…” Eda mutters, looking around her. She then spots a shady looking tent that has ‘FOOD FOR YOUR YOUNG WITCHES’ written on it. Not original at all, but at least it’s straight to the point. Makes it easier for Eda. 

She pushes back the curtain and takes her first look at the place. It’s dark and... damp. For some reason, there is a visible wet sheen to everything, which immediately puts Eda on edge. 

“Hello there! Welcome to Food For Your Young Witches!” exclaims the shop owner. They are a large blob of... Something translucent, and is leaking a shiny looking liquid. Obviously, that’s where the ‘wet’ sheen on everything came from, which really puts a huge bad look on the place. 

Yeah no Eda isn’t getting Luz anything from this weirdo tent. 

Eda stares at the guy for a few moments, before stepping back and letting the curtain close. Quickly she walks away further down the street because no way is she sticking around that freak show. 

“Darn well…” she mutters, looking around the market place again. All there is on this street are merchants selling monster food, weapons, illegal goods, etc. And even though Luz sometimes acts like a little monster, Eda is pretty sure that if she fed the baby any of that stuff, she’d explode or something. 

You never know.

Eda walks to where she usually gets her food, where there are mostly normal vegetables and fruits. But she isn’t sure if the kid can actually eat food like that yet. She’s pretty sure that most witch food should be okay for humans, but she’s unsure about human babies. 

Eda surveys the food stand but then remembers that if she feeds the kid torn-nips it’ll quite literally tear her up from the inside, seeing as she doesn’t have the magic to stop that from happening. 

Right, so this place is a total bust. 

Eda groans, plying Luz’s hands away from a decapitated cyclops head. She turns to exit the market, planning to make her way to the more... legal markets on the isles. There she could definitely find witch baby food if she couldn’t find any human baby food, which she sincerely doubts. 

She hopes that she isn’t just going to be murdering the thing by buying witch food for the brat.

She enters the market and immediately notices the guards on standby. Grimacing Eda quickly takes a look around and spots a cloak that someone left on a chair nearby. Eda grins and quickly snatches the cloak and throws it over herself and Luz, after all, if the owner didn’t want the cloak stolen they shouldn’t have left it all alone in plain sight.

But Eda needed it to cover both her and the baby, seeing as she’s one of the most wanted criminals on the boiling isles, and will surely be recognized easier what with her striking features. 

Also, she has a human baby on her, which’s also going to attract unwanted attention, what with the kid’s round ears that would never be found on a witch. Sure, there are many creatures on the isles with round ears, but to tell between a human and a water people usually look at the ears to tell. (They could also cut them open and see which one has the bile sac, but the ear difference is the easier difference to spot... and the cleaner).

Luz pokes her little head out of the cloak, but Eda drapes the cloak so it at least covers her ears. She’ll just be a normal witch out with her witchling today. It’s a weird thought but if that’s what everyone else thinks then that just makes this whole thing easier to get through. 

Eda starts in the food section. Seeing more witchy foods, she heads over for that and starts to survey what could possibly be ok. She knows the effects of most of these, and she knows that humans do not have a second stomach, so about half of these are immediately out.

She does in fact grab some vegetables, fruits, and crackers. And also some more foods that the baby can’t eat, but that Eda and king can eat perfectly fine. She might as well just shop for food for the three of them. She’s been putting it off for around a week, her and king just scrounging up anything they can find and somehow putting it together. 

She looks around some more, and although she doubts she can find human baby supplies, it never hurts to try! 

Of course, she doesn’t find any, but she does, in fact, spot a witch child store. If there ain’t any baby supplies there, Eda will eat her shoe… Probably. She should also not be making bets like that, seeing as these are her last heels. She should probably go get some more… when the baby is back with her human parents of course.

Eda maneuvers through the crowd, which is starting to thicken seeing as it’s now noon. Luz is now making small whining sounds, clearly hungry but willing to wait.

The Owl Lady finally gets to the entrance and enters the establishment.

Yes, this place is clearly legit. 

There are aisles of supplies. Things like diapers, those sucky things, even small clothes. And parents too, of all kinds, who are looking around and buying what they need for their little terrors.

It’s all so cute and domestic that it makes Eda sick.

Firstly, Eda moves towards the baby food aisle, but when she gets there she is met with a wall of baby food. She is completely lost on what she should get, what would be good for Luz, and what Luz can even stomach.

Look, sometimes back at Hexside, she’d be forced to babysit as punishment. But those brats were able to walk, talk, and mostly take care of themselves by that age. They could eat most of the things she could, so she didn’t have to have this whole dilemma on what the heck would poison them.

She also probably wouldn’t care. 

So she has no experience with babies or very small children.

Eda groans and covers her face, which prompts Luz to make a questioning noise and pat Eda’s chin. The witch looks down at the human child and sighs, “Luz, I have no idea what to get you,” she admits. Of course, Luz is a baby and doesn’t really understand what Eda is trying to convey. 

Eda paces back and forth, picking up little cans and seeing if they are good enough to eat. Dragons’ blood with mashed bone barrow would certainly kill the twerp. Or at least she thinks it will. Again with the whole humans having one stomach thing. 

She’s contemplating just feeding the babe carrots when she hears a kind male voice behind her. 

“Hello, do you need help?”

Eda twirls around, making Luz giggle at the quick motion.

Standing off to the side slightly behind her is a witch. He’s young, and in the stroller in front of him is obviously his brat. Both are pale skinned with blue-tinted hair and blue eyes. The baby in the stroller is probably as old as Luz is, and clearly more well-fed than the tiny sad-looking infant in Eda’s arm who is probably starving by now.

“Huh? Help with what? I don’t need your charity.”

“Oh well it seems like you are having a hard time trying to pick up food for your little one,” He says, moving the stroller to the side so people can move by. “I can give you some suggestions?”

Eda looks at the tall aisle, stacked with all kinds of infant food. Then down at Luz who is staring up at her with teary brown eyes. She could turn this guy away and continue to struggle with what she should and could get, or she could accept his help and hopefully get something for this kid. 

Another look at Luz made Eda cave.

Eda looks back up at the guy and sighs before admitting, “Yeah I have no idea what the heck I’m supposed to feed this brat.”

The guy chuckles and points to a whole section Eda wasn’t even at.

“Over there is where I get my little Willow her food. See that’s where most witches like us get their baby food.”

Eda nods and he leads her to down to that part, explaining all the types of foods.

“There are foods that will get your child to start to lightly use their second stomach so that it won’t overwhelm them and get them sick yknow? Then there are ones that only need one stomach. Then there are ones that you can get if your child has a third stomach.”

Eda looks at the section, which all look like things she would feed a witch child. 

“My kid is... She has fragile stomachs,” Eda lies, deciding just to be careful and get something that isn’t too... strong? The ‘my kid’ part makes Eda die inside a little. But what is she going to tell him? That her palisman accidentally stole a human baby?

As if, he’d call the authorities and she’d shipped off right to jail and the kid taken away and probably eaten. Never to be reunited with her parents, and said parents depressed over their lost child. 

The man hums and points to a certain section.

“That’s really light stuff, mostly vegetables and fruits. I give willow that when she’s not feeling too good. Over there is the formula,” he points to another section, which is just a bunch of boxes. “Babies also need to drink, and over there most of it is the same. Except for the things on the left, those are for babies with three stomachs and four stomachs. Each of the boxes has instructions on them.”

“Woah thanks, this is perfect.”

“No problem!”

He picks up the foods that he needs for his witchling and waves goodbye as he steers the stroller into another aisle. 

Eda doesn’t bother waving goodbye but does nod in his direction before looking back at the wall of baby foods. She realizes she doesn’t have anything to carry them with, and so goes to find a basket. When she finds a basket big enough for what she’s getting, she goes back to the aisle and section and starts shoveling food into the basket.

She moves to the formula section and stares at all the kinds of boxes. She looks for the ones that are for ‘sensitive stomachs’ and finds a few. She only takes one box though, that seems to have simple instructions.

Eda doesn’t know how long she’s going to have the kid, but hopefully less than two days. It doesn’t hurt to be careful.

She remembers that she should probably get the kid some diapers, seeing as the brats only wearing a cloth held together with a pin. 

Looking around some more, she walks through the place and sees a stack of boxes. She doesn’t need a whole box so she looks at a smaller package of them. 12 tiny pampers. She looks at the kid then decides she’ll fit the smallest size, and grabs a package hoping she’s right. 

Eda sighs as Luz starts to fuss, clearly starting to get very hungry and upset. 

She goes to the counter and puts her items up in front of the cashier, a young witch with two curling horns.

The witch totals up the cost and looks up at Eda.

“That’s going to be 100 snails,” the cashier informs Eda, looking bored out of her mind.

Eda grimaces, only have 40 left. Damn, she didn’t know that babies cost so much. But she also didn’t want to put any of it back, knowing that it’s all pretty essential.

Eda looks and sees a couple of kids to her right messing around with a stack of diaper boxes. She quickly thinks of a plan and uses magic to push it open, making the boxes crash into another stack and starting an avalanche of diapers and baby merchandise. The children’s cry of shock alerts the cashier who swears under her breath.

The young witch jumps up from behind the counter and rushes to the scene, apparently the only employee here. 

Eda quickly takes her chance and shoves all the baby food, diapers, and formula in her expanded pockets then turns and runs right out of the store. She has her cloak wrapped tightly around her and Luz, The baby starting to let out little cries due to hunger and fear. 

Luckily no one tries to stop Eda as she swerves through the crowd of shoppers, right towards the exit that leads to her house. 

She should have kept her staff on her, but it would have made her easy to identify, and besides, she can do magic without it. It was just that flying ability she needed. Luckily she did keep it right outside under a concealment spell.

She called on her staff as she noticed a group of soldiers walking her way, deciding just to book it as quickly as possible. Because she didn’t want to have to fight a group of people with an infant hindering her, and because said infant was starting to actually cry because she was so hungry.

Her staff came to her, wacking people over their heads as it came to her rescue.

She jumped on the staff just as she heard a shout behind her, coming from one of the burly guards. 

“Hey, you! Halt!”

Eda flies up and looks over her shoulder and sticks her tongue out at the stampeding guards before she turns and takes off towards the woods. 

She flies over the exit and straight into the forest, grimacing as Luz starts to wail.

“Ugh! FINE FINE! I’m stopping!” Eda shouts, making Luz cry harder. Eda lands and slumps to the ground, unraveling Luz who is clutching Eda’s dress with big fat tears rolling down her chubby cheeks. 

Eda reaches into her pocket and grabs one of the jarred baby foods, and pries it open with her witchly strength. It’s a vegetable fruit mix, for young witches ‘with one working stomach’. She uses a cleaning spell on her hand as she scoops up some of the gloop and brings it to Luz’s face.

Luz’s nose instantly picks up on the smell of something that could be edible, and the baby jumps and reaches out for the food and shoves Eda’s food covered fingers into her mouth.

Eda grimaces in disgust, and takes her hand back from the protesting baby, and just shovels another scoop into her mouth. She does it three or four times, before just tipping the jar so the gloop falls into Luz’s mouth slowly. 

She should have done that from the start before she started to use her fingers as a makeshift spoon. 

Luz finishes the jar and sits back with a relieved sigh, clearly a little more hungry but content to just chill for a few moments. Eda quickly cleans her hand and dissolves the jar, and stands up from the bush they were crouched behind. 

“Ok, you good brat?” Eda asks, looking down at the content baby. Luz just sighs and lays her head on Eda’s shoulder, small chubby hands clutching her dress. 

Eda lets out a long relieved sigh, and sits back on her staff, and sets off for the sky, content baby in arms.


	4. Chilling At Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda arrives home and makes lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this is just a semi fluffy chapter, a filler really. Things are going to pick up the next chapter though, which will be posted after Christmas. 
> 
> Early Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it.

After a few minutes, they finally land in front of the owl house, Hooty already coming forward with his weird antics.

“Heeeeeyyy Eda, guess what I did today!?”

Eda rubs the bridge of her nose with her hand, the one that she didn’t just have in Luz’s mouth.

“Not right now Hooty, I gotta get this twerp settled,” Eda explains. 

“But Eda! It’s a very special thing, you see I chased this fly-”

“Hooty, just open up, I’ll invite you to game night.”

This sends Hooty to the skies in happiness. Literally. He exclaims in delight and from up where he is, Eda can hear him promise not to eat the figures this time.

The last time Hooty was invited to game night, he got frightened by one of the moving figurines that you use to play, and trashed the entire set, ate all of the cards, and figurines. He then broke through the ceiling to hide. 

So he hasn’t been invited to the last two game nights, as punishment for going crazy over nothing. She should probably help him with that, but he seems to be getting better with his weird freakouts when it comes to moving figurines. And if he does it again, then she’ll get involved and see what's up.

Hooty stretches back down and swings open the door, letting the two inside.

“Thanks, Hooty,” Eda says, kicking the door back close, hearing Hooty’s muffled thank you. 

Eda walks to the couch, where King is currently reading a book on “human demons”, which he is very interested in seeing as none of those exist on the boiling isles, or are heavily based on those that are. 

He’s been very interested in what the humans call a “bigfoot” convinced that Bigfoot is just an old demon or a very hairy witch that was exiled to the human realm. Eda just thinks that the humans are seeing things, or it’s just a very hairy human that walks the woods.

She puts Luz down on the couch beside King, and flops down beside them, making the two bounce up. King grumbles at being disturbed, and Luz giggles at the bounce. 

King closes his book and puts it far away from Luz who is staring at the pictures curiously and is trying to reach and grab them. He puts it on the side table and turns to Eda.

“So how’d the trip go?” he asks.

“Ughhhhhhh it was… okay?” 

“What does that mean?”

Eda scratches the back of her neck and shrugs, “Had a run-in with some soldiers and had to hand feed Luz her baby goop,” she explains. 

King makes a face and looks at Luz, who has fallen to her back and is now grabbing her feet.

“Are you going to go try to find the parents again?” King inquires.

Eda sighs, having forgotten that she said she would after she got food for luz. But she’s beat and just wants to chill out and start getting her own food ready to eat. She didn’t eat breakfast that morning, didn’t even have a cup of apple blood for titan’s sake, and hasn’t eaten lunch yet. 

There’s a problem right there. She needs to continue doing what she always does, which is to take care of herself and king and conduct her human artifact business. But she can’t exactly do that when she has to take care of an infant that can’t even feed itself yet. Are all babies this helpless or is it just human babies? 

She could use magic, however, to perhaps cage the little brat for an hour. She doesn’t think that parents do that, however, something about it being unethical or something. But there are many cribs that are basically cages, so it shouldn’t be too unethical right?

She’d have to give Luz a toy, however, to keep her entertained and quiet. So far she seems to be an easy baby, compared to all the other babies Eda has been around. Which isn’t much but those babies constantly cried and were always needy, Luz hasn’t exactly been like that for no reason so far. Are human babies just more temperate? Who knows.

Realizing that she’s been silent for a while because of her thoughts and that King is still waiting for an answer, she finally responds with, “I’ll send Owlbert to go scout around for a bit.”

King nods and jumps down.

“I’m going to go rule over my servants! Call me when there’s food because I’m huuuunnnngggrrrrryyy!!!” He exclaims while running to the hall.

Eda nods but doesn’t say anything, and turns back to her thoughts, making sure that Luz doesn’t fall off or anything. 

She really should make something to eat, seeing that both her and King are hungry. She kinda doesn’t want to interrupt King’s alone time, but she decides that he’ll be more thankful for food than being undisturbed. 

Eda stands up and creates a dome around Luz, so she can’t roll off the couch to her death. Eda grabs one of King’s stuffies that he has laying around and gives it to Luz who immediately latches onto it and starts biting its ear.

She summons Owlbert, who lands on her shoulder softly with a hoot. 

“Owlbert can you go into the human world and try to find Luz’s parents again?” she asks. 

Owlbert can’t really refuse, since he’s the one who got them into this mess in the first place, and still feels really guilty over the whole thing. After all, a baby and a mother were separated because of him. 

So he hoots in confirmation. 

“Atta boy.” Eda cheers, throwing the portal into the air in front of them, which morphs into the door.

Owlbert takes off from her shoulder and flies through the portal, off to search for Luz’s parents once more. 

Eda watches him leave and stays there for a few seconds. 

The witch then walks to the kitchen and starts to empty her pockets of all the things she bought that day, and puts the things she isn’t going to cook with away where they belong. She takes out the things she will need to cook what she has in mind, and brings it back to the table where she starts to prepare. 

She’s going to be cooking a traditional witch dish, which both her and King enjoy very much. She doesn’t think that it will harm Luz, but Luz isn’t going to be eating it anyway. But who knows with babies, because maybe she’ll somehow get her chubby human hands on it. 

When she’s finished she calls King down, who quickly scampers into the kitchen to grab himself a plate of the steaming food. 

“Oh wow Eda! This looks so good!” King remarks as he starts to shovel it down his throat. Eda laughs and pats his head, walking to the living room to check on Luz since it’s been half an hour.

When Eda goes into the living room, she sees Luz fast asleep on the couch, clutching King's stuffie close to her softly rising chest. She’s drooling, her mouth wide open. She has such a peaceful expression on her adorable little face.

Eda will never ever admit it, but her heart kinda melted there.

After making sure that Luz will be okay, the Owl Lady walks back into the kitchen to eat her delicious meal. 

She always likes to have this meal whenever she’s had a stressful day. Lilith would make it for her whenever she was upset when they were teens, which is something their mother did for them as well. A family tradition. 

King doesn’t really know this, but maybe one day he’ll notice that she only makes it whenever one of them is having an off or bad day. She doesn’t know how she feels about it.

Maybe she’ll make it for Luz.

That's another thing that’s weighing heavily on her mind.

What is she going to do if they cannot find Luz’s parents? 

She isn’t really sure what she’s going to do if they cannot find the parents, and it’s also what’s making her stressed. Because she doesn’t want to kick the babe on the street for someone to come and snatch up to add to their dinner ingredients. And humans don't really have a place on the boiling isles either. 

She could always go and drop the baby off in the human world, but then she thinks of that strange man who claimed Luz was his, who gave off such creepy dangerous vibes. Clearly, there are humans who are just as bad, who would see a baby left on the street as something they can take advantage of.

Call her soft but she’s starting to care for the kid and does not want that kind of fate for her. 

There are orphanages she could consider, but again, humans on the boiling isles? Maybe it could work, but Eda hasn’t seen a human on the boiling isles in her entire life, so she has no idea. 

There are also human orphanages, but she has no idea where any human orphanage would be in the human world. She could always ask but humans always get so weird over her appearance, not wanting to believe that she is what she is, and yes the ears are real.

She’s… not sure what she should do.

She’ll give it a week at the most, and if they can’t find the parents by then… she’ll work something out. 

She always does.

She finishes her food and takes their plates to the dishes to be washed later. King finished his meal long ago, and has only been rambling about one thing or another. Mostly about that human monster called bigfoot… again. 

It’s only midday now, so Eda should do something productive. 

She goes to the living and sees Luz still clonked out, and decides that this will be the perfect time to dig through the things Owlbert brought the last haul. Hopefully, he brought something good that she didn’t see because of the whole baby commotion.

And so for the next hour, she hunkers down and digs through the pile of human goodies, finding a lot of good profitable things she could definitely scam some poor sucker with. She needs to make a lot of money, after all, to replenish her snails after the whole baby spending spree she did this morning. 

She’s staring at a golden colored metal… thing. It seems to be a long tube and gets large at one end, and small at another. It has many holes in the side with a flat cushioned piece that if she presses certain things, will close. 

“Fascinating…” she mutters, turning it over and looking at all of the details. 

That's when she hears a cry behind her coming from the couch.

She turns her head and sees Luz sitting up, crying, and holding on to the stuffie. Eda groans and stands up, cracking all the bones she can whilst doing so. She walks over and dissolved the protective dome, and picks up the crying baby.

“What's wrong with you now?” Eda asks, holding Luz up by her armpits and squinting her eyes at the kid. Luz shoves her little fist in her mouth and continues to cry.

Eda grabs the brats hand and takes it out of her mouth.

“I guess you're hungry huh?” Eda guesses, holding Luz close to her chest now. Eda walks them into the kitchen, where she gestures with her left hand to start taking Luz’s baby things out. 

She chooses a jar of food and sits it on the counter with a spoon soonly joining it. She sets Luz on the counter, making sure that she isn’t going to fall over. Shrinking the spoon she spells it to feed Luz. Of course, Luz being Luz, she immediately tries to lurch forward for it, if not for Eda holding her back. 

She magics Luz still and lets the spoon do it’s work, while the Witch turns around to start making a bottle. She grabs one of the boxes and looks at the instructions, and starts to make the bottle. 

As it’s heating up, Eda takes over for the spoon and starts to feed Luz by herself. Luz doesn’t seem to mind her limbs being frozen, seemingly happy as she rocks back and forth waiting for each spoonful. 

Luz only eats half of it before she starts to turn her head away to avoid it. Eda sighs and plops the spoon back into the jar. 

The Witch turns to the bottle and checks the bottle. It’s kinda lukewarm, but honestly, she has no idea how hot she should make this thing, and she doesn’t want to burn off the kid's tongue. 

Picking up Luz, Eda unfreezes the baby's limbs, which immediately come to life and clutch her hair and shoulder. 

She grabs the bottle, and walks to the table, and sits down at one of the chairs. Leaning back she moves Luz so she’s sitting on one of her thighs, back in the groove of the Witch’s inner elbow. 

“Alright kid, let's see if I did this right.”

She gives Luz the bottle, who immediately grabs it.

Eda watches Luz devour the bottle, half of it gone in a second. After that Luz seems to calm down and drinks at a moderate pace, taking her time now that she seems to have enough in her stomach. 

Eda leans her head back, stray hairs falling from her face. 

Honestly, this whole thing is boring, having to carry the kid and watch her eat while Eda herself doesn’t even have anything to drink. She also has nothing to do but sit there and wait for Luz to finish.

She should’ve just let the magic take care of Luz since it does a good enough job on its own. Sitting there, with Luz cuddled up to her, and her mind beginning to get bored, Eda begins to zone out.

Again her thoughts go back to what she was thinking before, which is what her next step is. 

She’s hoping that owlbert does come back with good news. Either he found both or one of the parents, or he found a lead on where the parents could be. Either or she can then do something else other than looking aimlessly. If they just find the parents and can deliver Luz, then that would be great.

And if they find a lead then there will be a better chance that Eda and Owlbert can find them, and then they can go and give Luz to them. 

They must be very worried, either that or they skipped straight to the grief stage and are planning the kid's funeral. It’s a common occurrence whenever a Witch child goes missing. What with being able to do a tracking spell specifically for family members, which will work if that person is alive, and if it doesn’t work… well. 

But then again Humans don't have magic, and Eda doesn’t think they have any human equivalent of that kind of sorcery. So the parents are probably still worried and looking. Or perhaps humans won't go through the effort of looking for their child after a certain amount of time, giving up and abandoning their search.

That’s depressing. 

She really doesn’t want to think about what will happen if she can’t find the parents. 

A few minutes had passed while Eda was lost in her thoughts.

Luz finishes off the rest of her bottle and leans back against Eda's arm and shoulder, which tightens around the baby protectively. 

The calm atmosphere around the two is broken, as Owlbert flies into the kitchen from the living room, landing with a thud on the table and knocking over a vase, which rolls off the table and clatters on the floor.

The sudden noise is enough to startle both the Witch and the baby, both who flinched and sit up a bit more. 

“Huh? What?” Eda asks, coming back to herself. 

Luz sniffles and burrows back into Eda’s shoulder, giving Owlbert the stink eye before she hides her face and goes back to sleep.

Eda notices Owlbert and her face hardens as she notices he looks… well he looks defeated. 

“So what’s the situation?” Eda asks.

Owlbert lets her know that he wasn’t able to find the parents, and he wasn’t able to find any sort of lead throughout the entire city. He looked where they haven’t, and looked where they have, but haven’t for a while. 

He peeked through windows, stalked people that looked like the mother, and looked for any missing posters. 

Nothing at all.

Eda closes her eyes, feeling a headache coming, and a pool of dread filling in both stomachs. 

Darn it, now she actually has to think about what she has to do if they can’t find the parents.

Because it’s really not looking too good right now. 


End file.
